Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted anything here... I started this story on my AO3 account, Kurosaki_Taicho, so if you to prefer to read things on AO3, its on there. I'm honestly not sure if this story will last long on here, I'm not sure of the current climate on this site. but this story gets pretty dark at times. As per ratings, I feel like it might slip into a MA rating at times, but it's parts of the story I can't remove, otherwise it'd make no sense. So, be chill you guys, I will give warnings before each chapter, and if it's something that triggers you, or you don't want to read it, then please don't. For everyone else, I hope you enjoy! -MnM
WARNINGS:
Strong language, blood/violence, loss of limb
Edited 19 Jan 2021
Aizawa Shouta considered himself to be a man of logic.
He was direct, honest, and rational. He did not appreciate irrational or illogical things. He had no patience for them.
And the current business he found himself tied up in? A vigilante that was the very definition of irrational and illogical?
Well, it was understandable that it had drained him of whatever energy he managed to scrape together each day.
He worked alongside the police quite often- as an underground hero it was inevitable- but rarely did he get involved with vigilantes. However, when Tsukauchi had asked for him personally on the case, he couldn't deny the man. He owed him at least that much. So with great reluctance, and a sinking feeling of dread in his gut, he agreed to help the detective with his troublesome vigilante.
And so the cause of his new headache was given a name: Akabana.
Admittedly, he almost reconsidered his earlier thought of owing Tsukauchi when he was finally able to look over the vigilante's file. Surely none of the favors he owed the man could ever add up to the absolute nightmare the case would no doubt be.
The feeling of dread only got worse as he sat in front of the detective and his team, listening to them explain the case, reading over the file more carefully than his initial fearful glance. He had enough experience under his belt as a pro hero to trust his gut feelings- this whole case was going to be a shit show, he just knew it.
Aizawa sighed loudly as he put the file down on the table, focusing back to Tsukauchi.
'Damn that man'
"We don't actually know all that much about him. From his encounters with police, he seems fairly young. He's about 5'6", green eyes, slim, and we estimate him as in his early 20's. He wears relatively nice clothes, a black waistcoat, dress shirt and pants, black gloves, red shoes. However he wears a mask that covers his hair and face. It used to be just a plain white mask, but recent reports say there is now a spider lily painted on it, spreading from the bottom left diagonally to the top. This is likely to acknowledge the nickname the police have given him. Our sketch artist is working on a new sketch right now. He also shows incredible intelligence and analytic abilities, but he seems to try to distract from those features with that mouth of his. He seems to want to be underestimated, but his actions will always betray his intelligence." Tsukauchi closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose, obviously troubled by what he was about to say next. "He has single handedly ensured our department psychologist is set for life with all the cases being sent her way. Every time a patrol encounters him at least one, if not all, have to visit her after."
Aizawa was unsure whether he was amused or scared by that piece of information. "What on earth does he say to them?" Tsukauchi looked reluctant to tell him, making Aizawa's bad feeling grow exponentially.
"Flip to the very last page in the file and just read that. I'll answer any questions after, I'm sure there will be quite a few." The detective leaned against the wall as he waited for Aizawa to read over said pages. He had set the file down earlier before he could get to this part, and it was probably for the best. He wasn't sure he would have agreed to take the case on, favor or no, after reading it.
On the last page, there was a list of injuries with their respective dates and meetings with the vigilante. And those injuries were not to the responding officers, no. They were the injuries of the vigilante himself.
Aizawa would never admit it, but he really didn't want to finish reading the list in front of him. It was disturbing in a way Aizawa had yet to encounter in his entire hero career thus far. He was sure even some villains would cringe away from this. But this was his job now, he needed to know every detail he possibly could. With renewed determination he started back at the top of the list, noting more carefully the exact injuries as well as the dates.
Most wounds honestly weren't that bad, simple sprains, fractures, small cuts, a missing finger or two. But some, often coming out of an encounter with a more notorious villain, were truly gruesome. There were records of limbs being torn off- and not always cleanly. A sliced throat here and there, major arteries being hit. What was worse was that they weren't even sure of the entirety of the wounds, most of it being the deduction of officers or heroes, sometimes even civilians, who were present at the scene. Without assessment by a medical professional, they would never know the true extent. After several meetings with Akabana, there were a disturbing amount of police officers who now knew how to differentiate the noise of a bone cracking, breaking, or snapping completely. And if all that wasn't enough to make Aizawa nauseous, then the dates certainly were. He had to swallow down the bile that rose in the back of his throat as he read and reread the first date several times.
Aizawa looked up at Tsukauchi pleadingly.
"Please tell me these first several dates are mistyped." Tsukauchi shook his head slowly, grief turning the corners of his lips down. In that moment the detective looked as if he had aged 50 years, a haunted look in his eyes.
No wonder Tsukauchi had practically begged him to take the case, if it had been open this long.
"He first came onto our radar 10 years ago. He has popped up a few times in the following 7 years, as you can see, but it is in the last 3 years that he has become increasingly active. The last few months especially." Aizawa nearly flinched at hearing that out-loud, it just made it all the more real.
Glancing back down at the list, he managed to read out the first injury, speaking around the lump stuck in his throat.
10 years ago.
They estimated he was in his early 20's, that meant the boy could have only been around 10 or 11 years old... Just a child. Aizawa himself would have been just starting UA, learning to become the hero he was today. How could someone...How could anyone-
"Right arm severed completely." If Aizawa hadn't been studying the man so closely, he would have missed the way his shoulders tensed, fists clenching at his sides as the detective nodded stiffly.
"Yes. I had just joined the force and I was still a uniformed officer. My partner at the time, and myself, were closest to the scene when a call came in about a villain attack..." The detective took a deep, steadying breath, before continuing, "I will never forget the image of pulling up to the scene just in time to see a kid not even half my height run out of the gathered crowd and try to attack the villain. I cannot begin to describe how I felt. There was just a giant pit that opened up in my stomach as I watched. It almost seemed to be in slow motion- the kid running up to the villain, stabbing him in the leg with something, and then the next thing I knew the kid was down the street, his arm still in the hand of the villain. He had been thrown away with such force that his arm had been torn clean off. It was surreal. There was blood everywhere, painting the streets red, but it was silent. Even the villain couldn't process what had happened, he just stared dumbly at the limb in his hand. It was only when the kid spoke did that strange spell break." Tsukauchi let out a small chuckle. Aizawa was surprised to note how unhinged that small chuckle sounded. The detective was probably a little too lost in his memories, and Aiwawa almost felt bad for bringing it up, but this was information he needed if he was going to be any help on this case. "He had his one hand on his hip, stance entirely too defiant for someone who had just lost an arm, and shouted across the incredible distance his body had been flung, 'Hey! You arm stealing mother fucker! You have about 30 minutes before the poison kills you! I'd take that vile out of your leg and get to the hospital asap if I were you! Bye!'. To top off the ridiculous situation, when attention focused back on the villain, the kid's severed arm was flipping him off before it disappeared all together." Aizawa was stunned, truly.
"Disappeared?" Tsukauchi finally pulled himself out of his memoires at the sound of Aizawa's voice, eyes looking a little less haunted.
"Yes. It seems whenever a piece of him is severed, it never sticks around long. The larger the piece the longer it stays though. At first we believed that it was a clone quirk, that the actual body was not being harmed, but we believe it unlikely now because of the severity of injuries we have witnessed. Usually clones disappear after a certain amount of damage is dealt, and given how extensive the list of injuries is, it is unlikely his quirk involves clones. More recent reports from heroes who encountered him have claimed they saw small cuts close themselves within seconds. Our current theory is that his quirk involves rapid regeneration. Hence his nickname." Aizawa nodded at this, the name made a disturbing amount of sense now. The pro ran a hand through his hair, a tired sigh escaping his lips as he stood.
"I have to go now or I'll be late to work, but I will come back by the station after I'm done teaching the brats so we can discuss the case further. I need a little time to process what I already do know." Tsukauchi nodded as the pro hero left, lost deep within his own thoughts.
This Akabana character had gained his nickname from the many terrified police who had witnessed his quirk in action, but also from his flippant nature(1). Akabana, literally meaning red flower, is just one of the many, many names Lycoris radiata, the red spider lily, goes by(2). Others included Shibitobana, the dead flower, and Yuureihana, the ghost flower. Both just as apt names to describe the vigilante. This flower, sometimes called the resurrection lily, is deeply entwined with death. The bulbs of the flower itself are poisonous, keeping away pests who may try to make a meal of it. They are an ominous flower, and some legends even claim they grow in Hell, their purpose to guide the dead into the next life. Other legends claim that the corpse flowers will bloom along your path when you have seen someone you will never meet again(3).
Yes, it was indeed an ominous flower.
Outside of the myths and legends though, it was just a delicate looking red flower- a perennial, in fact.
Truly, Aizawa had never heard a more fitting name for a person- perhaps except for Bakugou. He glanced down at the mess of blond spikes standing a few rows ahead of him. His- arguably most talented- student most certainly had the explosive personality to match both his name and his quirk(4). He really did need to talk to the boy about anger management... Perhaps Aizawa would ask Tsukauchi for the name of the department psychologist. The detective would certainly owe him after this cluster fuck of a case was over. If it was ever over…
Wait, what was Bakugou doing at the police station? That didn't make sense.
No.
Aizawa glanced around, taking careful note of his surroundings.
He wasn't at the station anymore.
He had managed to make it onto a train in his daze. He mentally slapped himself out of his stupor, still trying to process all the information he had been given.
"Come on Shouta, snap out of it, you can handle this, you're a pro for god's sake"
Aizawa blinked in surprise when the train stopped, a voice announcing that this was indeed his stop. Thank god that even dazed and confused he had managed to board the correct train in the first place.
He quickly pushed to the entrance, berating himself for being out of it for so long. That was the kind of action that could get a hero killed out in the field. The very kind of thing he had hammered into his students heads since the beginning.
Always be aware of your surroundings.
What kind of teacher was he that he couldn't put his own words into practice?
Despite his frustration with himself though, he couldn't help his thoughts drifting back to the details of his newest mission. According to the file, the man in question was able to use a multitude of weapons that seemed to change over time. It ranged from katanas to handguns, and even a frying pan had been added to the list at some point. He wasn't sure he wanted to know the details of that encounter…
The point was, the vigilante knew how to handle almost anything, that much was clear…
So, in summary, Aizawa would have to track down a most likely mentally unstable cockroach armed to the teeth with potentially any weapon both known and unknown to mankind.
Great, just great.
Aizawa was already exhausted just thinking about his newest problem child. What he wouldn't give for a giant hot cup of coffee right this moment. He was going to need all the artificial energy he could acquire to deal with this case. He sighed deeply just thinking about the hours he was going to have to spend tracking down this vigilante, the emotional turmoil that was sure to be involved.
He was not going to get a decent night of sleep until this case was closed… maybe not even after.
Even with his dire musings, Aizawa could have never imagined, even in his wildest dreams, what would happen next.
His hand brushed against someone in the crowd, not that unusual due to it being a peak travel hour, people rushing about. What was unusual, however, was the sudden presence he could feel in his mind, emotions separate from his own- and a voice.
"Stupid...cat…"
…
…
…
"No fucking way."
(1) While akabana is probably written more often in katana, or using this 花 (hana) kanji, it can also be written with this 華 (hana) kanji. They both mean flower, but 華 can also mean ostentatious, showy, etc. Which just fits Izuku's character so well in this. I did have some trouble figuring out whether 赤華 would be read akahana or akabana, and I'm not sure if い is needed between the characters. If you are a native speaker, or have more experience with kanji than I do, please let me know if what I've done is correct! I'd love to know!
(2) The red spider lily has over 1000 local names in Japan! .jp/kumamoto/sizen/higan_
(3) All information about spider lilies comes from wiki, I am not an expert on flowers or anything, so i apologize for any mistakes I may have made. They are very fascinating flowers though.
(4) In japanese, Bakugou means explosion, or detonation. Several Character's names match their quirks, and it's hilarious, as a Japanese major these puns(?) make me so happy. Horikoshi, an absolute mad lad. We stan.
This story was inspired heavily by:
The Perennial
by Blueflyer678
/works/16482848/chapters/38601464
If life were a joke, I would be the fall
by Socialement_inapte
/works/19236385/chapters/45740680